Chronicles of a Blonde Uchiha
by dudmuffin
Summary: I suck at summaries. Basically, Naruto is an Uchiha, and is not the container of the Kyuubi. Just a normal ninja, making a name for himself in a world of death, deceit, and debauchery. Rated M for adult themes; ie. lemons, violence, character death, etc.
1. chapter 1

The spring sunset cast a beautiful glow across the Uchiha compound, highlighting the multiple houses and cherry blossoms with a decadent golden glow. A light chilling breeze sailed in between the dojos and trees alike, blowing loose petals into a small clearing near the outer edge of compound. The clearing, littered with bruised and battered targets and splintered wooden posts, only contained a single occupant. Said occupant, a young boy, was drenched in sweat, breathing heavily, with kunai peeking from between his gloved fingers. His shockingly blue eyes fiercely flickered around, analyzing his surroundings, before he suddenly gave a sharp grunt and launched up into the air. He spun acrobatically, his mop of hair leaving a golden blur in the sky, before six uniform flashes of silver shot outwards from his small frame. As he gracefully dropped to the ground, one foot sliding out to the side and the other knee softly impacting the dirt beneath him, a series of wooden strikes sounded out in unison. Looking up eagerly, he squinted his eyes before energetically jumping out of his stance and throwing his fist to the clear sky.

"Ah ha!" He proudly yelled out. "I knew I'd get it!"

Hitting the ground running, his worn blue sandals lead him to his intended location; the center of the several wooden targets he had launched his kunai at. Each target was perfectly pierced in the center of the faded red circles that had been painted on each of wooden disks long ago. The blonde jogged from Target to target, plucking his sharp blades out from the wood and sliding them into the holsters on his thighs. Upon completion of his small task, he squinted up at the sky, which was rapidly darkening, and smiled before he turned and set off on a slow run through the sparse forest.

X

"Mama! Mama!"

Akari Uchiha giggled lightly as the sound of the sliding door slamming closed was followed by the quick patter of light footsteps echoed through the quaint home.

"Mama! Guess what I did!"

The Uchiha turned just in time to see her son round the corner into the dining room, where she had been setting out dinner. As the blonde slid to a stop in front of her, she knealt down and brushed one hair through her raven black hair while her other hand reached out and teasingly pinched the young boy's cheek.

"Awww, my little Naruto, don't make me wait! Tell me all about your day!"

Naruto shook his head, slightly annoyed, and his mother let go of his cheek.

"I had such a good day, Mama! Today we practiced kunai throwing at school, and Himari-sensei said that we're gonna start learning about charka tomorrow!"

Akari smiled brightly at her son's enthusiasm as the blonde continued to spout on.

"Maybe soon I'll be able to do more cool ninja stuff like all the older kids! And then when I came home I went right to the field and practiced my throwing! And guess what I did Mama, guess!"

Akira, smiling, happily asked.

"Whatever did you do, my little sunshine?"

"I hit all the targets right in the center! At the same time! Isn't that cool?!"

Standing up and rustling her son's golden blonde hair, the Uchiha mother eagerly replied.

"That's super cool, sunshine! I'm so proud of you!"

Naruto blushed and flashed a blinding smile at his mother's praise as he followed her to the table and sat down, eager to eat after a day full of training. The two ate silently, with Akiri eating slow and gracefully while Naruto rapidly shoveled the steamed rice and beef into his hungry mouth. After he was done, he tiredly got up excused himself, wishing his mother a childish goodnight before heading off to shower and sleep.

X

As she cleaned up the meal, Akiri lightly smiled, letting her thoughts drift. She felt a pang of sorrow in her heart as she compared her young son and late husband.

"If only you could be here to see him, Riku." She sighed sadly. "You would be so proud of your little shinobi."

Riku Yamanaka. It had been nine years ago when the up-and-coming ANBU operator had left on what was supposed to be a simple escort mission, short work for such a skilled team. That was the last time Akiri had seen her husband.

Naruto had yet to be born; the poor child had obviously never met his father. And still, the comparison between father and son was undeniable, and it wasn't just because of the odd blonde locks or deep blue eyes. At such as young age, Naruto did not let on about his abilities. He had started reading his late father's books on chakra theory and tactics before he had even started studying at the Academy. Even more, all it took was a simple spin of her Sharingan for Akiri to see that Naruto had an impressive chakra reserve, let alone for a young eight year old. Still, none of that even held a candle to the boy's incredible drive and work ethic. That evening's events only went to provide evidence; like most days, Akiri did not see her son from the time he left for classes to sunset. No matter what, with no regard for weather or holidays, Naruto practically lived in his small training field. Without her son telling her a word, Akiri already knew that her son excelled far above his peers. Of course, these assumptions were only confirmed by Naruto's teacher, Himari Nakamura, who had personally saught out Akiri after Naruto's first few weeks at the Academy. She had told the blonde's proud mother that Naruto was already leaps and bounds ahead of his classmates, and that knowledge-wise, he belonged in classes with the third-years, rather than children his own age.

Akiri just didn't know if a skip in education was what she wanted for her son yet, but the option was still most definitely on the table. Still, one thing was undeniable;

"Our son is going to be a great shinobi, Riku. I can feel it."

X

A/N: Hey there, fellow Naruto lovers! Just in case it needs to be stated, I don't own Naruto, if you hadn't somehow figured that out yet, and all original characters, which will be plentiful, belong to me. This is going to be the only time I say that, by the way.

On another note, this work will obviously be following a very different Naruto, born into the Uchiha, with no Kyuubi, and set early enough for this Naruto to meet Mikoto Uchiha(Yes, that'll be the main couple of this fic). If you look at the timeline, you'll also notice that Naruto will be around for the Great Shinobi War, so stay tuned for that. Other than that, the first few chapters are going to progress pretty fast. I want to get to the development phase fairly quickly, so we won't exactly be skipping stuff, but we'll definitely just be brushing over the important scenes. Hope you guys decide to stick around, and leave some criticism if you'd like; I can take it, trust me. Enjoy!

(P.S. This story is rated M for Mature for a reason. If you aren't comfortable with death, blood, or sexual content, you might want to find a new story. Just sayin'.)


	2. Chapter 2

The sun had set long ago, casting a chilling breeze across Naruto's glistening skin. He leaned over slightly, breathing heavily as he stared at the body of water in front of him. From his position on the hardened wood dock, the moonlight reflected off the surface just right, illuminating Naruto's intense gaze.

"C'mon," he growled. "You've done it once, baka, do it again!"

Taking in a fresh breath of cool air, the blonde focused. Closing his eyes, he allowed himself to feel the chakra coursing through his body, leaving a warm sensation throughout. He slowly brought his hands up, and with a steel resolve, began the hand seals he had memorized and run through countless times before. With each new sign, Naruto could feel the chakra rush faster, harder, as if agitated. Finally allowing his hands to rest in the final seal,tiger,Naruto took a shaky, shallow breath, still just enough to fill his lungs.

Then, with a final push against his chakra pathways, he released his iron grasp on the coursing energy. Rapidly and violently, the chakra blasted through his veins, threatening to burst his pathways to shreds as it rushed upwards from his core towards head. Barely able to react in time, Naruto's eyes widened as he felt the chakra, like molten lava, burning it's way up his throat. As rehearsed many times prior, the blonde fought the urge to cry out in agony, instead filling his mouth and lungs with the violent, burning energy before finally releasing it through his lips, blowing it out and relieving himself of the burning flames. In a grand display, the chakra blasted out of his mouth like a cannon, immediately igniting in the night sky in the form of a massive ball of flames, going so far as to steam the surface of the small reservoir before Naruto. The flames licked upwards, ever expanding until the chakra reached its limit and dissipated, spreading out into the dark expanse of the night.

Naruto stood on shaking legs and gave a final weak, yet defiantly triumphant grin, before he dropped to his knees and then to his chest, no longer having the energy to carry himself.

Naruto Uchiha was ten years old, and he had mastered the famedGreat Fireball no Jutsu.

X

When Akiri Uchiha woke up the following morning, she was not all that surprised to find that her son was not asleep in his bed. Letting out a content sigh as she began work on breakfast, she wonder just where her son had fallen asleep this time. This had been a habit of her blonde boy since he had began his second year at the academy, shortly after learning intermediate chakra theory and being introduced to the Henge and Clone techniques. Hearing that mastery of those two Jutsu was required to graduate, it was only natural that Naruto had dedicated the next week or so to grinding out the techniques. Akiri remember it like it was yesterday when her son energetically ran through the front sliding door, eager to show his mother his perfect Henge before summoning a small team of perfect clones.

Akiri had obviously been incredibly impressed, but she was shocked even further when Himari had again reached out to the Uchiha mother to inform her that her son had thus far been the only student in his class to master the techniques. Even more, most students hadn't even come close to achieving mastery. It was just a testament to the fact that Naruto was leaps and bounds above his peers. Still, despite Himari's wishes, Akiri had no intentions of allowing Naruto to skip any years of schooling. He had just started his third year at the Academy either way, so skipping forward wouldn't prove to be all that beneficial. The way Akiri saw it, she rathered that her son stay with his own peer group, even if he did excel far above them; Akiri knew the importance of friendship, and didn't want to see her son grow without anyone relatable by his side.

As if on cue, Akiri's ears picked up the sound of the sliding door slowly being opened, followed by the lazy scratching of feet being dragged across the hard wood. A quick moment later, a tired and visibly exhausted Naruto rounded the corner, and offered his mother a sleepy smile.

"Sorry Mama," He apologised with a yawn. "I fell asleep training again."

He hung his head as Akiri smiled at the tired boy. Walking over to her son, she knealt down and wrapped the boy in a warm embrace.

"It's fine, sunshine," Akiri reassured, tightening her hug. "Did you get a lot of work down?"

As if a switch had been flipped, Naruto went right back to his energetic self.

"Yeah Mama! You won't believe it! Iearned theGreat Fireball no Jutsu!"

Akiri's charcoal eyes widened in genuine surprise as she pulled back far enough to lock eyes with her excited son.

"Naruto," She started, with a more serious tone than she was used to using. "Are you joking around with me? Where did you learn that Jutsu?"

Naruto grinned, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"Well I was reading some stuff in the Uchiha library," The young child explained. "And I found out about theGreat Fireball no Jutsu! The scroll said that it was made by Uchiha a real long time ago, and that every Uchiha should know how to do it!"

Akiri secretly deadpanned as she looked at her son inquisitively.

"And so you just went and learned how to do it?"

"Yep! I made some pretty big fireballs last night! Are you proud Mama?"

Akiri was at a loss for words. Thefamous Uchiha-crafted Jutsu was an intermediate technique at best, and most children learned it around twelve years old. She herself had only learned it at fourteen, and her stood her son, ten years old, claiming mastery of a dangerously combat-effecient Jutsu.

"Naruto, I am more than proud." Her son glowed at her compliment. "That is very impressive, to learn such a Jutsu at your age. You're becoming quite the little shinobi!"

"You think so Mama?!"

Akiri giggled as Naruto jumped on to her, wrapping his small arms around his mother's thin frame. The two hugged for a few short moments before Naruto quietly broke the silence.

"Hey Mama?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm really tired..."

Akiri lightly laughed.

"Well then let's get you to bed. You've trained hard enough, sunshine."

X

As Naruto sat in his seat near the back of the loud classroom, he thought back over his past four years. Looking back, memories raced through his mind, reminding him of his good times at the Academy, along with the friends he'd made since his first day, years ago. Graduation had been rather lackluster, with the highlight of the event being a brief speech from the Third Hokage. Other children might have focused more on the acolades, but Naruto was too concerned. Yeah, he had been his classes' valedictorian, but in all honesty Naruto had been expecting that. Naruto honestly found himself more impressed with a young boy who had joined their class in time to start the fourth and final year.

Minato Namikaze. An academic prodigy, who wasn't too shabby physically, the fellow blonde had been in the same situation as Naruto; Minato had proven during his first year that he too was an anamoly, excelling far above his peers. It was only natural that the young genius skipped his way through the ranks all the way up to the final year of schooling. Naruto found himself impressed because, despite his young age, Minato had been able to nab the spot as salutatorian. The boy was quite impressive indeed.

And so now, here sat the most recent graduating class of the Shinobi Academy, waiting patiently for the Jounin who would become their new instructors, further training them in the shinobi arts.

The ruckus eminating from the eager class quickly died down as Himari strode into the room, clipboard in hand. Stopping at her small podium, she took a second to examine the occupants of the room. Her eyes, grey like storm clouds, scanned her newly-graduated Genin pupils proudly; this was after all her first graduating class, and it was a damn good one at that. With two practical prodigies, anyone would be hard pressed to say that Himari's first class was not massive success. After a short moment of reflection, Himari cleared her throat and brushed her lime green bangs out of the way of her scarlet eyes.

"Well students, this is it." The young Chunin released a sad sigh. "This day marks both your final day as my students, and your first day as Genin of Konohagakure. Today marks your first day as official shinobi of our great village. The road ahead may be rough, but know that as long as you apply the fundamentals of what you've learned here at the Academy, and as long as you diligently obey the orders of the Jounin appointed over you, you will all prosper. I have faith in every single one of you. You all have been trained well, and you all have the tools you need to survive. Now it's just up to you to apply them where seen fit."

Most of the young shinobi excitedly listened to the Chunin's speach, and while Naruto admitted that his teacher's words indeed inspired him, he sensed the message hidden in between the lines. This lifestyle was an extremely dangerous one, and the threat of death lingered around every corner. Even at twelve, Naruto knew that from this day on, he would have to be ready to lay his life on the line at a moment's notice.

And he was fine with that. That was the way of the shinobi, and Naruto completely understood.

Himari's next words brought Naruto out of his thought.

"And now, I'll read off the team roster. Until you all become Chunin, like myself, you can expect to be working in these teams. You will become family, and will learn to rely on one another, and trust one another with your lives. That being said, I'll begin with Team One..."

Naruto didn't care to pay attention to the other teams as they were called off in groups of three. He was only focused on one thing; his team. The young shinobi was eager to see who he'd be training for the foreseeable future with. He was excited beyond belief and those fateful words flowed like smoke out of Himari's mouth.

"Team Four; Naruto Uchiha."

Naruto sat on the edge of his seat.

"Minato Namikaze."

The blonde Uchiha's eyes widened in surprise. Out of everyone, he had not expected Minato to be one of his teammates.

"And the third member, Mikoto Uchiha."

This announcement caused not only Naruto, but everyone in the room, to widen their eyes in genuine surprise. Mutters and whispers echoed throughout the room, commenting on the strange decision of two young Uchiha on one team.

As everyone else in the room whispered amongst themselves, the three fresh shinobi seemingly all locked eyes.

This was going to be a very interesting development indeed.

X

A/N: Hey guys, back at it with another chapter. Gonna give a short apology for this one; I honestly rushed to get it out to you guys and gals. However, as I previously stated last chapter, I will be pushing out this next few chapters. I'm tryna get to the good shit, ya know? I'm talking fast-paced action, high-speed low-drag shit, Mikoto on Naruto hankie pankie. If you can bear with it for the next few chapters, I'll do my best to make it worth your while! Until then, leave some criticism, comments, concerns, all that jazz. Every lil bit helps!


	3. Chapter 3

"So." The man sighed, running a weathered hand through his spiky silver hair. "I guess we should start with some introductions."

"My name is Jiraiya, and I will be your teacher from this day on. I will do my best to train you three to the best of my abilities, just as my teachers have done before me. I enjoy writing and... Other activities you all are too young to understand."

Jiraiya grinned lustfully, seemingly lost in his own thoughts for a moment before he continued.

"Your turn, blondie in the tee shirt."

Both Naruto and Minato simultaneously looked down at their attire. Naruto embarrassedly look back at upon glancing at his trademark black jacket as Minato began.

"Well, my name's Minato Namikaze," the young boy started with a wide smile. "I enjoy reading and learning, and I hope to gain the respect of my village and become Hokage!"

Jiraiya smiled.

"That's a lofty goal, kiddo. I'll do my best to help you get there one day, though. Well, you next,otherblondie."

Naruto sheepishly grinned and rustled his own golden locks. "The name's Naruto Uchiha. I enjoy training and home cooked meals. I also like learning new Jutsu! One day, I wanna create my own Jutsu and teach them to my students."

The crazy-haired man grinned, nodding before turning to the last member of the team.

"My name is Mikoto Uchiha." The raven-haired lightly blushed. "I enjoy gardening even though I'm not very good at it. I also really like reading. I hope to one day be a great woman, and help to lead my clan."

Giving one last nod, Jiraiya stood and brushed himself off. "Well, now that we're all nice and aquainted, I've got somewhere I need to be."

There that lusty grin was again. It honestly creeped Naruto out a little.

"So, make sure to be at training field 13. 7 a.m, sharp, got it?"

All the young shinobi practically jumped up as Jaraiya turned away. Naruto, however, was the first to speak.

"But Sensei!" Naruto practically cried out. "We just met you, should we take some more time to get to know one another?"

With a simple wave of his hand, Jiraiya scoffed. "Trust me, kiddo. We'll have plenty of time to get to know one another."

With that, he turned around and faced his newly formed team. "I'll be seeing you all tomorrow! 7 sharp, remember!"

Letting those final words slip, Jiraiya took one last step back as his hair wildly whirled around him. The next thing they knew, Jiraiya was nowhere to be found. The team sat there awkwardly for a few moments before Minato broke the silence.

"I dunno if it's just me, but Jiraiya-sensei is kinda weird..."

Both Naruto and Mikoto nodded instantly.

XxXxX

The streets of Konoha bustled around the two Uchiha as they slowly walked side by side.

"So," Naruto said, eyes scanning the various vendors and store fronts. "What's it like, ya know, being part of the main branch?"

Mikoto blushed and looked at the ground. "I don't really know how to compare it to anything else. It's all I've ever known..."

Rubbing the back of his head, Naruto lightly laughed. "Eh, I guess that's fair. I just didn't know if life was different as a true Uchiha or what-"

Before he could continue, Mikoto looked at him with sad eyes and cut him off.

"Naruto-kun, you're an Uchiha too. For what it's worth, blood doesn't matter to me. If someone has the Uchiha name, they're an Uchiha. That whole 'main' and 'servant' branch thing has always annoyed me."

The blonde was quiet for a while as the two continued towards the compound. While it had never been all that bad, Naruto had known his fair share of segregation. While his mother was a pure-blooded Uchiha, his father had not had a drop of the famous blood. Naruto couldn't help it; he would never have truly pure Uchiha blood, and thus he and his mother were not part of the family's main branch. They didn't have the nicest house, and they weren't treated like nobility, but that didn't bother Naruto. Those things didn't matter to him, all that matter was what Mikoto had just said before him; he had the Uchiha name, and so he considered himself an Uchiha.

"Naruto?"

Broken out of his train of thought, Naruto looked over at Mikoto and smiled brightly.

"You're really nice, Mikoto-chan. I'm happy we're on the same team, and I hope we'll be good friends."

Mikoto blushed again but managed a cute smile.

"I think we'll be great friends, Naruto-kun."

XxXxX

"Okay, let me get this straight."

Naruto currently was rubbing his temple, thinking over Jiraiya's assignment.

"What're you're saying is that you have two bells, and that we need to steal them from you."

Jiraiya nodded in amusement.

"But whoever doesn't have a bell by lunch will be failed, andsent back to the Academy?"

Jiraiya hopped off of the oak fighting post he had been seated on and stretched.

"Yup, that's the gist of it. If you ask me, it's a pretty basic mission, and if you can't complete it, well..."

He suddenly stopped stretching and made a frighteningly straight face.

"...you don't deserve to be a shinobi."

The three Genin shuddered. The day before, their new sensei had seemed like a care-free and easygoing man, but this side of him proved them all wrong in the worst way. The consequences of failure here were the largest any of them had ever seen, and despite their determined gazed, it scared them all equally. Letting a few seconds of hard silence pass, Jiraiya started up again.

"Well, if that's all the questions you've got for me, I've got none for you. Let's get this started!"

Suddenly jumping up, Jiraiya's long hair seemed to expand, fully encasing his body in a spiky silver cocoon. The three just stared in wonder, but quickly scattered when an obscene amount of needles shot out of the mini fortress, littering the ground below with razor sharp projectiles.

All three of the new genin jumped back reflexively, sliding backwards along the ground as the needles brutally pierced the ground that had just be standing on seconds earlier. Naruto's eyes narrowed as his body moved on it's own accord, his hand smoothly snaking down to his thigh, drawing a single kunai, and releasing it with an impressive velocity, all in an amount of time that radiated pure muscle memory and countless repetitions. Jiraiya's eyes widen as the kunai sliced through the air towards his chest, but at the last possible moment, he grinned cheekily before his body dissipated into smoke, a small wooden log taking it's place. Two kunai simultaneously impacted the log on opposite sides, with the sheer momentum behind the projectiles tearing the wood and devastatingly cracking it in half, causing countless splinters to flutter to the ground. Naruto spared a glance at Minato, only to see the younger boy looking back at him. They both grinned and nodded respectfully at one another before turning on their heels and darting into the woods in opposite directions.

The leaves that took the place of the two genins' feet slowly drifted back to the ground after being kicked, leaving Mikoto standing there, alone in the clearing. After standing in the silence for a few seconds, she blinked a few times, wrapping her head around the events that had taken mere seconds to unfold.

"What the hell just happened?"

XxXxX

"So, let's recap."

Jiraiya ran a weathered hand through his grey hair as he cross his legs, sitting atop one of the splintered wooden posts.

"Minato, while I appreciate your tenacity and confidence in your taijutsu abilities, it really wasn't the wisest decision to engage a jounin opponent without any sort of element of surprise. We'll be sure to work on that at a later date."

Minato, who was molded to the base of Jiraiya's seat via hardened mud sighed.

"Hai, Jiraiya-sensei."

Nodding sagely Jiraiya shifted his gaze to Naruto, who at the current moment found himself sloppily hog-tied with steel wire, resting at Minato's sandal-clad feet.

"Naruto, I won't lie. While you did indeed catch me off guard with your hasty tripwire ambush, simply tripping me up wasn't enough to leave me exposed for a massive flaming fireball. After dodging that, it was pretty easy to just gather up your own wire and bring you down using that. If you plan to ambush an enemy, you need to have a plan that consists of more than one all-or-nothing jutsu."

Naruto simply huffed as he scrunched his body in an attempt to find a more comfortable position. Jiraiya allowed himself one last glance at the blonde before he looked at his final pupil.

"That leaves just you, Mikoto."

The girl in question blushed as all three males directed their attention to her. Still on the wary side, she hadn't quite broken out of a fighting stance, with a kunai in her back hand. As Jiraiya leaned forward and grinned, she took a small step backwards in an attempt to keep some sort of distance between her and the experienced Jounin.

"Why haven't you attacked me yet, hm? You see that both of you teammates have been rendered, well, useless, and you're their last line of defense. You're not scared, are you?"

Mikoto took a deep breath before defiantly looking him in his eyes. "No, Jiraiya-sensei, I'm not scared. But I don't know everything that you're capable of. It wouldn't be logical to just run at you without knowing every trick you might be able to pull out."

The sensei and his pupil remained silent for a few moments, eyes locked in an intense stare. Just as Mikoto began to get uneasy, Jiraiya threw his head back and, with absolutely no warning, because to laugh heartily. His three pupils looked at him, looks of confusion clearly printed on their faces. His laughing fit lasted for an uncomfortable amount of time, and just as Mikoto was about to speak up, she found herself caught off guard when her teacher careless tossed both of the bells to her. Mikoto's eyes slowly widened in surprise as she quickly realized that she had managed to pass Jiraiya's test, but then looked up at the silver-haired man in confusion.

"Uh, Jiraiya-sensei," she began uneasily, shifting her weight from one heel to the other. "What am I supposed to do with the other bell?"

Jiraiya leaned forward yet again to peer at his female student, and while the grin never left his face, it appeared to turn more sinister in the young woman's gaze.

"Well, Miss Uchiha, there's a simple answer to that question. Choose one."

"I'm afraid I don't understand. Choose a bell?"

Jiraiya let out an exaggerated sigh as he absent-mindedly brushed his hair out of his face.

"Mikoto, this isn't that wild of a concept. You've passed, and therefore one bell is yours. Now it's up to you to choose which of your teammates will get the other."

With that statement, Naruto and Minato both visibly paled and began to offer up protests to the absurd idea. Jiraiya, however, quickly silenced the pair, delivering a light kick to Minato's side and lazily slinging a kunai within a few inches of Naruto's head. As the two yelped in unison, Mikoto looked down at her feet, nervously leaning back and forth. For a few eerily long moments, the group remained in silence. Then finally, Mikoto looked up at Jiraiya. Without breaking eye contact, she leaned down, placing a bell into Naruto's palm, before walking forward and nestling the second and final bell into Minato's bound hand. Jiraiya kept the grin on his face, but his eyes did nothing to hide his confusion as he watched Mikoto stand up and take a few steps back.

"With all respect, Jiraiya-sensei," Mikoto sighed, once again looking down to her feet. "If any two genin here are fit to stay on this team, I have to admit that it would be Naruto-kun and Minato-kun. They are both much more skilled than I am, and in my opinion more fit for service. They deserve this chance more than I do."

As the last sentence left her lips, the grin flowed off of Jiraiya's face, replaced by a small frown. Gracefully hopping off of the wooden post, he smoothly closed the distance between him and his student. Lightly flicking her on the forehead, he chuckled as she yelped. She looked at him with wide, apprehensive eyes as he smiled down at her.

"Mikoto, being able to say that takes a lot of guts, but it's not something that I want to hear out of one of my students' mouthes."

Jiraiya squatted down on his haunches, coming eye level with Mikoto. "To be a shinobi, anda great one at that, you don't just need strength. You also need confidence. As long as you believe, you can accomplish whatever you set your mind to. All you need is your team by your side."

At this, Naruto and Minato simultaneously peaked in interest, craning their necks to get a better look at their sensei. Naruto, however, was the first one to burst.

"So does that mean we passed, Jiraiya-sensei?" He practically glowed with excitement as he fidgeted back and forth in his restraints. "Does that mean we'll get to be real Genin?"

Jiraiya stood up, followed by the anxious gazes of all his pupils. "That's what I'm saying, Naruto! Thanks to Mikoto's impressivedisplay of loyalty towards you two, you can thank her endlessly. From today and moving into the future, I am your sensei, and you three are my students. I'll train you to the best of my abilities, but I by no means will take it easy on you! Be prepared, understand?"

All three of the Genin echoedtheir understanding instantaneously, and Jiraiya sharply nodded, grinning.

"Good!" He boomed, crossing his tan arms over his broad chest. "Now that that's out of the way, that's all for the day. Congratulations all of you, especially you Mikoto. I look forward to training all of you. With that said, I'll be going, be here tomorrow morning at 05:30 sharp! Get rested!"

Without any further conversation, Jiraiya disappeared in a flash of swirling leaves, leaving the Genin stunned in his wake. The aforementioned group remained motionless for a short moment before Minato grinned and broke the silence.

"Guys, we did it... We really did it! We're officially Genin of Konoha, full-fledged shinobi! This is so exciting!"

Naruto was the next to speak up cheerily.

"Yeah, we really did it! And Mikoto-chan, you did great! You really saved us just now, awesome job!"

Mikoto, in turn, blushed and looked down at her sandals, absent-mindedly scuffing at the dirt beneath her feet.

"It was nothing, Naruto-kun. Either way, I meant everything I said! You two are so good, much better than I am anyways..."

Both boys loudly voiced their disagreement, shaking their heads so rapidly that they almost left after images. Mikoto couldn't help but warmly smile as her teammates showered her with praise and compliments. The three continued on with jovial conversation for a few more minutes before slowly fading into a comfortable silence, which was broken by Naruto.

"Ehh, Mikoto-chan, would you be able to cut us free?"

The three broke into laughter as Mikoto blushed and hurried to help her teammates out of their restraints.

And so marked the beginning of what would probably become the most infamous Genin team of their generation.

XxXxX

Author's Note: I honestly don't know how many people are still following this story, and I deeply apologize for anyone that has been around since the publishing of Chapter 1. I've had a whole lot happen in my life over the past year, and this project was honestly my last priority. With that said, however, I fully intend to step it up and keep this story from hitting the gutter. I hope you guys enjoy what you've gotten thus far, and look forward to the future of Uchiha Naruto!

P.S. Sorry for the half-assed ending, I just didn't know how to wrap it up nicely and may or may not have ended up giving up at the end lol


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